[Project-managers] editing external codes

[Matthew Galati]

Hmm -- as far as I can tell, all this stuff sort of defeats the purpose 
of collaborative open source projects like COIN-or. These license issues 
seem to encourage "re-inventing" the wheel - which happens all the time 
- and clearly slows down the advancement of research.

With respect to contributing to COIN -- let me play devil's advocate for 
a moment - here's what I suspect goes through a lot of developer's minds:

So -- as far as I can tell, either --
  (1) I write it myself - a terrible waste of time (in some cases),
  (2) I jump through a bunch of legal hoops to get the combined stuff 
online,
  (3) I keep my code to my self (which has bits of GPL and CPL and XPL 
stuff) and distribute nothing.

(3) sure sounds attractive

Matt

PS: Oh yeah, I better say this too:
   '' The opinions above are my own, not necessarily my employer's nor 
an official COIN-OR statement. '' :)


>> Here's another similar scenario. Same problem. Concorde (ABCC's TSP 
>> solver) has the same issue -- uses "new" in protos. I want to include 
>> Concorde calls in DECOMP. I doubt Concorde team cares to support a new 
>> version, so I'd need to patch or have an interface header like I mention 
>> below.
>>
>> More generally... what about these scenarios:
>>
>> (1) The case where you have some open source code (say GPL) that is no 
>> longer supported. The authors have retired. You use it in your COIN code 
>> - and over time, you want to make adjustments to it - say, to make it 
>> faster. How do you handle?
>>
>> (2) The case where you have some open source code (say GPL) that changes 
>> dramatically its API - and deprecates their old versions (doesn't 
>> support or keep them online anymore). But, you are happy with the old 
>> API and don't want to change anything. Can you keep a local copy of 
>> their old version on your server and distribute with your COIN code? Or 
>> are you SOL?
>>     
>
> *I* think that (at least with GPL'd code) it's OK to distribute any version on
> your own and change it to your heart's delight and distribute those changes.
> This is just forking another project. The important point is that the GPL code
> you distribute is separate from the rest.
>
> Of course, this assumes that you are comfortable with distributing someone
> else's code, i.e., you are not afraid that the original authors may have
> (intentionally or not, doesn't matter much) stepped on some toe (copyright
> and/or patent issues), because if they did then you, as a distributor of the
> code, might get sued...
>
>   
>> Matt
>>
>>     
>>> You haven't talked much to lawyers yet, have you? Bless your innocent
>>> heart... :-).
>>>       
>> I try my best to avoid them. My Dad (M.D.) use to have a T-Shirt that said
>> "F-ck all the Lawyers". Apologies to anyone out there married to one.
>> Disclaimer: I have a mind of my own and do not necessarily buy into the
>> belief system of my father. Although, after growing up the son of a MD, I
>> think he had the right idea. :)
>>
>>     
>
> --Laci
>
> PS: Just to reiterate: the opinions above are my own, not necessarily my
> employer's nor an official COIN-OR statement.
>